Consumer relations is a key component for merchants offering products or services. In one aspect, a merchant can focus on providing efficient purchase mechanisms for end consumers to encourage repeat purchases and/or recommendations to other consumers. In another aspect, the merchant can focus on providing efficient customer services mechanisms to establish clear communication channels for consumer feedback. The ability to resolve consumer feedback, such as a consumer inquiry, can often result in a consumer making a purchase or becoming a repeat customer.
In a traditional merchant model, a merchant may provide one or more customer service agents in a physical location to take consumer inquiries and attempt to resolve any outstanding issues. If the customer service agent is not capable of resolving an initial consumer inquiry, the agent can escalate the issue and involve additional customer service agents, such as a manager/supervisor. As part of the escalation process, the merchant may obtain live feedback from the consumer about whether the customer service agent(s) and the merchant's customer service processes were adequate.
The development and evolution of computer communication networks, such as the Internet, provides a new environment for merchants to reach consumers. In one common embodiment, a merchant utilizes a network interface, such as a World Wide Web (“Web”) site, to offer products/services for sale. In such an environment, consumers interface with merchants through the network interface, such as a Web browser software application, and/or by additional communication mechanisms, such as electronic mail (“email”). Accordingly, purchases between the consumer and the merchant can be completed without any physical interaction between the parties. Such transactions are generally referred to as electronic commerce, or e-commerce, transactions.
Typically, an e-commerce merchant focuses on the mechanisms and features that promote efficient e-commerce transactions for consumers. However, because there is generally little or no physical interaction between the consumer and the merchant, customer service may be more difficult to accomplish properly. Many e-commerce merchants include some type of customer service mechanism that allows a consumer to send a consumer inquiry to the merchant. For example, e-commerce merchants can provide network-based consumer inquiry forms that transmit a consumer inquiry to the merchant via the communication network. Additionally, e-commerce merchants can publish specific electronic mail addresses that accept consumer inquiries. Once the merchant has obtained the consumer inquiry, most merchants attempt to resolve the consumer inquiry and notify the consumer with a responsive communication, typically in the form of an electronic mail message.
Although many merchants provide some form of customer service that allows a consumer to send consumer inquiries and receive a response, conventional e-commerce methodologies do not provide an efficient manner to escalate consumer inquiries that are not initially resolved by the response from the merchant. In one aspect, some e-commerce merchants provide an electronic mail address that a user can utilize to provide additional feedback. However, the electronic address approach can be deficient in that there is little control of the type of consumer feedback that the merchant will receive. Further, this approach also requires the user to initiate additional tasks, e.g., the free-form creation of an electronic mail, to provide feedback. In another aspect, some e-commerce merchants send consumers follow up messages that include some type of survey, either directly embedded in the message or accessed via a communication network link, for the consumer to complete. The follow up survey approach is generally not effective because consumers are typically not inclined to fill out surveys from merchants. Moreover, because the survey is transmitted as a separate message, this approach is not effective to allow a consumer to escalate a consumer inquiry at the time the escalation is needed.
Thus, there is a need for a customer service solution that provides an efficient framework for obtaining consumer inquiry feedback, including the ability to escalate an unresolved consumer inquiry.